Words by Gareth Whitton and Catherine Way. Photo by Armelle Habib
This is the tart that started it all in lockdown, before Tarts Anon even existed. It’s the bake that made us think ‘Maybe we should sell these?’ It’s quite a simple tart in its conception: layers of pear and frangipane baked in a shortcrust pastry shell. This tart was inspired by one of the first dishes Gareth ever made as a chef – a frangipane and plum tart, we’ve simply switched the plums for pears. You can serve this with the bells and whistles if you want (vanilla ice cream or cream), but we genuinely believe this tart is perfect as it is.
For more deliciously simple tart recipes like this, grab a copy of the Tarts Anon cookbook and bring bakery-quality treats to your kitchen!
SIGNATURE PEAR TART
Ingredients
- 1 baked Shortcrust Pastry shell
- 3 green packham pears
- icing confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
- 140 g 5 oz natural almond meal
- 75 g 2¾ oz plain (all-purpose) flour
- 3 g 0.1 oz baking powder
- 2 g salt
- 185 g 6½ oz caster (superfine) sugar
- 160 g 5½ oz egg
- 160 g 5½ oz Brown butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 165°C (330°F).
- Use an apple corer to remove the core from two of the pears and slice thinly, lengthways, on a sharp mandolin. Cut the third pear into quarters lengthways and use a knife to cut the core out.
- Weigh the dry ingredients, except the sugar, in a bowl and stir together. Add the eggs and sugar to a separate mixing bowl. Either with a whisk or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, slowly combine until the sugar has dissolved. You do not want to incorporate any air at this stage, as it tends to separate when the butter is added and forms a foamy crust, so keep the speed low.
- Melt the brown butter in a saucepan. You want this to be warm enough so that the liquid doesn’t cool down too quickly, but cool enough so that it doesn’t develop any burnt characteristics. If the butter is too hot, it can also fry the egg mixture as you add it, so a thermometer is useful (we aim for roughly 100°C/210°F).
- Once the butter comes up to temperature, slowly pour it into the egg and sugar mixture (or add little by little, if whisking by hand). Ensure that the mixture is well emulsified, as this will prevent the butter from bleeding out later, giving the cake a greasy texture. Finally, mix in the dry ingredients, making sure that there are no lumps suspended throughout the batter.
- Pour a thin layer of the almond batter (approx. one-third of the recipe) into the pastry shell. Arrange the slices of pear in an overlapping layer over the batter, then pour another thin layer of almond batter over the top of this. It is important to work quickly at this time as the batter will stiffen as it cools. Add a second layer of pear and then a final layer of batter.
- Once the last of the batter is inside the pastry shell, use a mandolin to carefully slice the quartered pear into slightly thicker pieces and arrange 10 pieces on top so they fan out with the pointed ends of the pear facing the centre.
- Place the tart into the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until the crust is an even golden brown and the centre of the tart is firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool inside the tin.
- Once cooled, remove the tart from the tin. Portion the tart into slices with a sharp knife and dust lightly with icing sugar.
Excerpted with permission from Tarts Anon: Sweet And Savoury Tart Brilliance by: Gareth Whitton and Catherine Way published by Hardie Grant Books, August 2024, RRP $35.00 Hardcover.